Facet
by Drakulya
Summary: Even Seifer can be helpful once in a while. [Seiftis, oneshot.]


_**F a c e t**_

_A/N:__I wrote this at midnight on a school night... my ideas really need to find a better time to come to me. -.- This is just a quick little one-shot, to relieve me from the pressures of updating my other fics. Heh. So, please enjoy._

--

Quistis cursed herself for not being taller.

Another few inches to her would really have been quite useful, especially in situations like this. She rubbed her rapidly tiring arms and shook them a bit. Looking up, she felt the annoyance of the task dawn upon her once again; why oh why did the Garden staff have to store the student files in such a high place?

She wisely decided that trying to get to the boxes by reaching up as high as she could wasn't going to do her or her aching muscles any favors. Looking around, the young Instructor tried to visualize using various objects in the room to help her take what she needed without getting crushed or making a mess in the process.

The stationery on the tables wouldn't help, and neither would the small plastic rubbish bin, unless she was willing to empty its contents onto the floor, use it, and then refill it again by herself - which was obviously something she was reluctant to try. She probed for larger things and ran her eyes over the chairs in her search, then dismissed the notion with a quick shake of the head. She didn't want to risk her life standing on a freely revolving object with wheels, and it would look fair ridiculous if she tried nudging the files box down with a _chair_, of all things. Similarly, other movable pieces of furniture were ignored, which wasn't very helpful as the room contained little else.

She absently ran her hands along her belt and suddenly felt the handle of her whip. Of course! Childish excitement bubbled up inside her and she fumbled to loose her weapon, which was fastened securely in place. She clumsily tied a make-do lasso and started swinging it over her head, and then attempted to hook the whip around the box above her head. The lasso slapped against the ceiling and lost momentum before collapsing back on top of her. Hyne-damn this room and its blasted low ceiling! She decided to try again, this time swinging the whip a little lower. When she let go, the lasso went forward promisingly over the box, and her heart leapt in premonition of triumph - but then the rope slid back down without managing to hook onto the other side of the box, and fell atop her again.

But Quistis wasn't one to give up so easily. She tried several more times, each attempt deliciously close to success only to end by the whip falling right back down again. Her tongue peeked out doggedly from the corner of her mouth as she attempted again and again to lasso her target. It was a very un-Quistis-like expression, but right now all she could care about was getting a hold on that stupid box so that she could add to one of her students' files.

No, it wasn't even about that anymore; in truth, it was quickly becoming simply a battle between Quistis' patience and the box. And right now, the box was showing signs of winning against the blonde.

"This is silly! How can I be losing to an inanimate object?" shouted Quistis as the whip fell in a pile at her feet for the umpteenth time, her frustration starting to get the better of her calm exterior.

Her fuming was interrupted by the sound of someone snickering behind her. She whirled around and spotted, with some surprise, none other than the student whose file she was trying to find - Seifer Almasy. She stared blankly at him for a while, and then the realization that he might have been standing there for some time now dawned on her. Which would mean that he was snickering at what she'd said. At _her._

"Students aren't permitted to enter this room," she told him curtly, gathering herself to calm down. "In case you didn't notice the 'Staff Only' sign on the door, Seifer."

He smirked at her. "I couldn't resist watching your antics. Doesn't seem very like you, my dear _Instructor_."

The slight emphasis he put his last word was not lost on Quistis. She silently ground her teeth. "I was not having 'antics', as you so gracelessly called it, I was just trying to get something," she snapped, and turned away from him.

"From what I've seen, you're talking about that brown box up there, right?"

She looked at him, surprised at the lack of a mocking tone to his question. "Well... yes."

Without a word, Seifer crossed the room in a few powerful strides and stopped beside her. She stepped back slightly and he lifted his arms and inched the box out from its place on the high shelf, then lowered it to the nearby table. Quistis watched his actions with a silent sort of awe, and was unable to wipe the expression off her face quickly enough for him not to spot it and scowl at her.

"Don't get too used to this, Trepe," he snarled as he hastily moved towards the door. "I just felt sorry for your lame attempts to get it down yourself."

She watched him as he went back into the corridor, striding past the windows of the room in that cocky way of his, and couldn't help but smile a little. That certainly was an unexpected act of kindness from her most troublesome student.

Quistis glanced surreptitiously at the collection of student files.

Maybe she'd let him slide this time, and not add to the already impressive list of concerned comments on his report.

Now she just had to find a way to get the box back up there again...

--

_Finis! Oh, and does anyone know if Seifer actually ever calls Quistis just 'Trepe' instead of 'Instructor'? I'm not too sure about this... _


End file.
